Hillcrest Journal

About the Book

"Hillcrest Journal is skillfully told . . . very realistic . . . I would recommend it not only to teenage readers but also to parents who may have a slightly hazy recollection of adolescence." West Concord Enterprise

Chad Wilson, before his senior year of high school, is forced to move from his family farm to Hillcrest, a small town in Ironwood County, Minnesota. The troubled senior seeks to discover his true values in 1984 America: social, sexual, and moral. He questions everything around him as he is torn between his desires, his fears, and his convictions.

His journal entries, awkward at first, become a moving account of the narrator and his search for meaning. His journey leads to bitterness, confusion, temptation, and, ultimately, forgiveness. Throughout his struggle, his one enduring value is his utmost honesty--with himself and with his journal.

This is the first novel in the Ironwood County Chronicles, a loosely-linked trilogy focusing on Christians in conflict with the world, with those they love, and with themselves.

The second novel, also published by Xlibris, is Passing Through Paradise; the third novel in sequence is Life on the Fly.

Excerpts from a sophomore English class, Triton High School, Dodge Center, MN:

"Overall, your book was one of the best I have ever read. It deals with normal high school issues in a way that is easy for people of all ages to be interested in."

"I wanted to laugh, cry, cringe or even rejoice at different stages in the book. . . . Since I have read this book I have learned many things. I have an even bigger assurance that it is ok to not give into peer pressure."

"Reading your novel Hillcrest Journal reminded me of how almost every high school is the same and how every teenager has ups and downs just like everybody else. I think your book really reminds us that we are not the only ones with struggles. Many of the characters in the book reflected many of my own peers. . . . It told of every high and low and explained all the options, opportunities, and tough decisions that we face everyday."

"I loved your book. . . . It made me want to start laughing. Chad is so much like me it was scary."

"Hillcrest Journal is more than honest about high school life, it is honest in general about what life is. . . "

What Ironwood County is saying:

"Everyone should read this when they are 15, reread it when they are 20, and reread it again when they are parents." The Paradise Post

"This is what Christian fiction should be: insightful and innovative." The Cherry Grove Gazette

"Teenagers. Conflicts with parents. Problems dating. These topics are all fine. But add politics, religion, and sex? Not in my library!" Agatha Peabody, Hillcrest High School librarian

Intended Audience:

Anyone who has ever had conflicts with parents, feared for a younger sibling, dealt with unrequited love, or asked sincere religious questions will be drawn into the novel. As one mother who read this book said, "Every parent who has a son should read this book."

Helpful Link:

Schreiber has posted some of his published articles, essays, and poems along with book group discussion questions for Hillcrest Journal at Ironwood County Books

About the Author

John Schreiber (born 1954) is an American teacher, theater director, and writer. Originally from Saint Paul, Minnesota, he has taught English and directed over 120 plays in southern Minnesota since 1976. During that time he also helped pioneer teaching over interactive television and developed one of the first concurrent enrollment courses with a local college. He has received numerous awards including Ashland Oil's "Golden Apple Award," and the "Selection of Excellence" from the MN Alliance for the Arts. In 2003, he was a finalist for Minnesota's Teacher of the Year, and in 2012 he was Minnesota's first Theater Educator of the Year. His Ironwood County novels, ("Hillcrest Journal," "Passing Through Paradise," and "Life on the Fly") draw on many of his teaching experiences in rural Minnesota. His collection of short stories, "Tales from 2 A.M." features stories written over the course of many years. Each story is written in a style designed to match the theme. Influences for these stories can be found in sources as diverse as Ray Bradbury and Mark Twain. For his fifth novel, the epic fantasy "Heartstone," Schreiber employed a cinematic, real-time style that brings an extra immediacy to the action. After promising himself never to write a novel as complicated as "Heartstone" again, he broke that promise and wrote the sequel "Heartstone: Under the Shadow." He is currently working on a fourth novel in the Ironwood County series.